Great Girls Soccer Playoff Action Expected In Tight Competitive Section

Oct 9, 2012

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

There will be three local teams chasing the top seed in Section 7A girls soccer playoffs this fall. Hermantown, Cloquet, and Esko-Carlton are the top three seeded teams after the Princeton Tigers when section play begins Thursday night across the Northland.

The Princeton Tigers have not lost since the second game of the year when the Tigers opened the season with two losses; one to Cambridge and then to North Branch. The Tigers are unbeaten in their last 14 contests going 12-0-2, and will enter the section playoffs with the top seed in Section 7A.

The Hermantown Hawks earned the second spot by splitting two games this season with Esko-Carlton and finishing with two ties against Cloquet. Hermantown’s Hailey Hoff, who leads the area in scoring told NSO “I’m really happy with the way our team has been playing, everyone has been playing hard, playing as a team and we believe this is our year.”

Hoff also stated “When we get going and get goals early on it makes our defense relax and we play better as a team.” Hermantown did not play Princeton in the regular season, but Hoff said “We match up good with both Cloquet and Esko-Carlton so it should be an exciting section tournament.”

Esko-Carlton finished the season 10-6 overall and after splitting with both Cloquet and Hermantown this year, the defending section champion Eskomos look to make a deep run in the playoffs. “I am happy with how the girls have played in the past few weeks of the season,” stated Esko-Carlton Head Coach Nicole Peterson, who likes where her team is at going into the second season. “We have been playing our best soccer at the end of the year which is a good place to be.”

“This year more than any other year we have been playing as a team. We have had a variety of players step up during different games. We don’t really have a stand out player since the team is playing as a unit so well,” Peterson also explained.

Senior Captain Brooke Schramm of Esko-Carlton stated “It’s really exciting how everyone is so good this season and how everyone has matched up well. I am looking forward to an exciting section tournament.”

Schramm added “It’s really jumbled this year; I think for us to win we just need to play the best we can play every single game. Everyone is good enough you can’t relax, but, if we play our game we can win against anyone.”

Cloquet will enter the section playoffs with the fourth seed, finishing just a head of Duluth Denfeld. The Lumberjacks had a 10 game unbeaten streak going until they entered their last two games of the season when the Lumberjacks fell to both Esko-Carlton and Duluth Denfeld, but still have outscored opponents 20-4 in the past nine games.

Cloquet Head Coach Dustin Randall believes defense will play a big part in the Lumberjacks run for a section title. “We have been solid all season on defense, our goaltending is strong and our “D” does a great job of playing as a unit, forcing things wide and not giving up quality shots.” Randall can also count on several people including junior Maija Doran and speedy forwards Emily Rikkola and freshman Mikayla Baker to score when needed.

Senior netminder Kenzie Rathe, who has posted seven shut-outs this season believes the Jacks are in a good position also. “We are playing well right now. There’s always room for improvement, but we get along great as a team and play together as a team. There’s no one person who thinks they are more important than anyone else and that team first mentality will help us in the playoffs.”

Duluth Denfeld, North Branch, Duluth Marshall and Proctor will round out the top eight seeds in the section playoffs. Opening round match-ups will start on Thursday at the higher seed home sites, quarterfinal action will take place on Saturday October 13th.

Although no Northern team is as familiar with Princeton as they are with each other, the one thing they all agree on is how even the section is among the deep group of top teams, who all happen to be playing excellent soccer at the end of the year.

“The section tournament will be exciting,” stated Peterson. “I don’t think any of us can predict who will finish on top. There are so many quality teams in the top of our section and many games will come down to the end.”

With several teams so close in abilities and any one of them having an equal shot at winning the section title, Hoff may have summed it up best. “We say when we go out there we’re just playing a bunch of girls and it doesn’t matter who it is, just play hard, play smart and play as a team.”

About the only prediction anyone can make this year is whoever does the best job of “play hard, play smart and play as a team” could well end up as the 2012 Section 7A Champions. Grab a box of popcorn and enjoy!

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com